For the Love of Books
by Litfreak89
Summary: Harry has stolen Hermione's books. The chaos ensues.


_**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**_

_A/N: So, after writing "Instincts," I'm in the mood for sap…pure, Harmonian sugary nothingness! Here it goes!_

* * *

"Harry Potter! Come back here this instant!" Hermione Granger, nineteen-year-old Gryffindor bookworm, best friend of Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, and heroine of the wizarding world, ran behind her raven-haired counterpart, annoyed that she was losing precious study time. "You're going to pay!"

The Boy-Who-Lived, or whatever he was called these days, laughed and ran faster. "You'd better hurry, Granger! I work out daily; you can't use that lovely brain of yours to catch me!" Harry jumped over a stump, never missing a beat. However, Hermione wasn't quite as lucky.

"You…_gasp_…little…oomph!" Harry was stopped short by the sound of the sound of a body hitting the ground behind him. He turned, immediately running back to check on his best friend.

"Hermione! Are you okay?" When he reached her, he quickly surmised what had happened. Apparently, she had not seen the fallen tree stretched out in the middle of their path, and her foot had caught on it. Brown hair covered Hermione's face, which was buried in the deep undergrowth that grew in the forest behind the Burrow, where the two teenagers were spending Easter holidays with the Weasley family.

The girl's left hand moved, but Harry could detect no other movements. "Hermione, talk to me!" He worriedly reached out to turn Hermione over, not noticing her wand hand moving subtly on her right side. Suddenly, Harry collapsed to the ground, laughing hysterically. Hermione stood gracefully with a smug smile on her face.

"I can't use my brain to catch you, can I? Looks like this 'pretty little brain' did a quite nice job at handing your arse to you, eh?"

"Her…Hermione! Take the…curse off!" Harry rolled on the ground. "You know how badly….oh Merlin! You know how badly I hate the tickling jinx!"

Hermione looked at Harry. "Oh, my. You do look a tad uncomfortable." She sat on the nearby stump. "Whatever should I do? I know!" Hermione jumped on Harry's chest and pinned him down, bouncing slightly because of his continuous moving. "Give me back my bloody books!"

"Never!" Harry looked defiantly at Hermione.

"Well then, I guess you'll just have to lie here and let the curse wear off then, won't you?" Hermione huffed and crossed her arms.

Harry felt the effects wearing off, but decided to play along. "I guess so. How long is this supposed to last?" he asked, distracting Hermione.

"Hmm, I don't know." Harry smirked as Hermione went into "analysis mode." Her brow furrowed. "The spell was silent, so you'll probably be relieved of the effects…"

"Now!" Harry rolled over, pinning Hermione down on her back. The young man laughed at the flabbergasted look on the witch's face. "Always underestimating me, aren't you?"

Hermione struggled to no avail, attempting to release herself from Harry's hold on her. "It's not that I underestimate you, Harry." She twisted in his arms, yet he did nothing to lessen his grip on her. "I just think you think an awful great deal of yourself sometimes, like you're unstoppable. I have to remind you with whom you're friends." She smirked up at him.

"And who's that?"

"Why, the most brilliant witch of her generation, of course! There's not a situation I haven't gotten myself out of yet, with or without your help." The smug look had returned.

Harry balked as he leaned closer. "Really now? And what do you call this? The most brilliant witch pinned down by the most powerful wizard…we seem to be at a stand-still, eh? You just think…" However, any thought Harry had even attempted to formulate flew away with the warm spring breeze that floated through the trees at that very moment because Hermione took that opportunity to reach up and kiss him, cutting off his flow of words effectively.

The kiss deepened quickly, much more quickly than Harry would have guessed it would have initially. He took a page from Hermione's book and analyzed the situation at hand. This was _Hermione Granger_; his best friend, prefect, Head Girl, fellow Sherlock Holmes enthusiast; hell, the girl even put up with his love of Monty Python. Hermione was never afraid to question him, never afraid to make him question himself. That's why she and Ron only lasted a few weeks; Ron suddenly remembered why they argued so much, and Hermione had never forgotten.

Anyway, Harry was suddenly brought back to the present when Hermione shyly ran her tongue along his lip. He groaned slightly, opening his mouth to allow her in. However, this seemed to wake her up. She gasped slightly and pulled back, her chocolate brown eyes meeting his emerald green.

"Oh my…"

And then she was gone. Harry was left sitting on his bottom in the damp underbrush behind the Burrow with no comprehension of what the hell had just happened.

* * *

Hermione was mortified. That had not gone anywhere like she had planned it to go. She had meant for her kiss to be a mere peck on Harry's lips just to distract her friend long enough to push him away and get her books from him. However…

"Damn it all!" she muttered, slamming the door to the refurbished house. What she didn't notice, however, was the redhead sitting on the couch as she stalked through the living room.

"Hermione? Are you okay?" Ginny quietly asked. Hermione stopped in her tracks, humiliated she had been caught throwing a tantrum like a four-year-old. The brunette figured she might as well tell her friend the truth. Ginny and Harry had not gotten back together after the war; Ginny had instead began seeing Neville while the two had been working with Dumbledore's Army back at Hogwarts, and after his heroic showing against Voldemort, Molly had no complaints about the Longbottom heir.

Hermione sat down heavily beside Ginny. "I think I screwed up royally."

"How so?" Ginny put her quill down.

"IkissedHarry."

Ginny's eyes widened. "Wait. What?"

Hermione covered her face. "I kissed Harry Potter, okay!" When Ginny finally pulled Hermione's hands from her face, her cheeks were as red as the youngest Weasley's hair.

"What the hell, Hermione? I didn't think you liked him like that!" Ginny looked at her friend confusedly.

"I didn't either! It all began as a game, but now…I don't know…" Hermione laid her head back on the couch. "It felt…somehow…right, you know?"

Ginny smirked. "So…you and Potter? What did he say?"

"I…didn't stay around to hear. I ran off."

* * *

Ron stumbled upon Harry about twenty minutes later, finding his best friend in the same position Hermione had left him in.

"Mate? You okay?"

Harry just kept staring, not believing what had happened. Ron sat down slowly beside the younger wizard. "Harry?"

"She kissed me. She bloody kissed me…" Harry murmured to himself.

Ron was confused. "Ginny kissed you? I thought you two had…"

Harry didn't hear, however. "Hermione's my friend. Why'd she kiss me? What's going to happen now?" He suddenly stood. "I gotta talk to her!"

"Wait!" Ron finally got Harry's attention. "Hermione?! As in Hermione Granger, our best friend? She kissed _you_?"

"And what's so wrong about that?" Something about Ron's tone rubbed Harry the wrong way.

Ron surprised Harry by laughing. "Nothing's _wrong_; I just didn't see that one coming, that's all. You two never even showed relationship potential. You and Ginny, I could see. You and Ginny had chemistry. I mean, I understood why it didn't work out, but she was a much better fit for you than Hermione is. How'd she take it?"

Harry's temper was quickly reaching a dangerously high level. "Take what, _Ron_?"

"The fact that you just want to be friends?"

"What makes you say that?"

Ron made a face. "Well…Obviously the kiss didn't lead to anything else. If it had, I'd be a hell of a lot more embarrassed than I am at interrupting something, and Hermione would still be here, eh?" Comprehension dawned. "You wanted it to be more?"

"I…I don't know." Harry sat back against the stump Hermione had occupied just moments before. "How the hell did this happen, Ron?"

"Hell if I know, mate. You two get on much better than she and I ever thought about."

"You're not mad?"

Ron looked at Harry closely. "That you and Hermione might be happy together? Nah. Will it be weird? Maybe, but besides the snogging and you two needing 'extra time alone,' I don't see it being that much different, am I right?"

Harry nodded. "I just don't know why she ran off. She bloody kissed me, then ran off!"

"Well, if I know girls at all, I'd say she's somewhere in the area talking to the nearest girl around."

* * *

"Ginny! I didn't think you two had gone that far!" Hermione's face had turned red ten minutes earlier, but that didn't stop it from deepening another shade as she listened to the girl's exploits with Harry.

"Oh, we didn't. Harry stopped us before anything happened, saying he didn't want it hanging over our heads during the war. However, obviously, nothing ever did happen, right?" Ginny grinned.

Hermione laid her head down in Ginny's lap once again, and the redhead resumed her ministrations, combing her fingers through the brunette's long curly tresses. "Ginny?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you give up on Harry? I thought you really loved him."

Ginny laid her head back. "Did I? I do love Harry, don't get me wrong, but it was more infatuation with the Boy-Who-Lived than anything. Once I was actually _with_ him, I realized that I didn't really love or even like him like that, and I think he saw me the same way. The feelings he had for me were just like the ones Ron had for me. He got angry when he saw me with Dean, for Merlin's sake!"

"So..."

"I'm fully committed to Neville, Hermione. I can't imagine dropping him for Harry. Plus, Harry's always been yours, love. He's just never known it."

Hermione sat up quickly. "What?"

"It may not have been romantic love, but Hermione, that boy has followed you around for eight years like a puppy. He's never looked at another girl the way he's looked at you."

"But it's always been as a friend!"

Ginny nodded. "True, but Hermione, he never had anyone he could trust. Yes, he was friends with Ron, best friends, in fact. However, _you're_ the one he could go to when he needed to talk. _You_, Hermione Granger, are the one he trusts most." Ginny looked into her friend's eyes. "He gave you his heart a long time ago, and I feel you've done the same, or you wouldn't have thought that a kiss was a good way to distract him." Hermione blushed again at this. "Go talk to him. You both might be surprised."

* * *

Ron left Harry to think out his feelings, choosing to go see if dinner was finished instead. Harry moved from his spot in the woods to a clearing the three friends had found by the lake over the many summers they had frequented the Burrow.

Harry was sitting with his feet in the water, enjoying the feel of the still-cold water on his toes, when he heard a noise behind him. He gripped his wand, always ready, but he knew immediately who it was just from the scent of the strawberry shampoo she had taken to wearing since the end of the war.

"Hermione."

The footsteps stopped. Then, "Harry…I knew you'd be here."

"Come sit down."

Harry heard her take a deep breath and finally caught a glimpse of her as she took her shoes off and stuck her feet in the water beside him.

"Where'd you go?" Harry finally looked up and at her face.

Hermione, ashamed, looked down. "I…I had to think." She slowly looked up at him. "I'm sorry, Harry." Tears laced her voice.

Harry felt a punch in his gut. He knew that she was his best friend, but he had just begun to feel a slight glimmer of hope that maybe she felt more for him than that. That maybe she did feel that they could be something amazing…together. However, she was now _sorry_...? "You're sorry that you kissed me." It wasn't a question, but a statement. "I get that. We were playing, and we got carried away. I understand." He shot her a quick smile. "Friends, right?"

_Blast it all! I'm buggering this up exquisitely! _ Hermione shook her head at her best friend. "No, Harry. I'm not sorry that I kissed you." His emerald eyes, eyes that had tried to hide the slightest glimmer of hurt just seconds earlier, shined a bit more, making Hermione's breathing hitch with anticipation. "I'm sorry that I used a kiss in that way. Our relationship means much too much to me to play around with it like that, and I want to apologize. You deserve better than that."

Harry tried to hide his smile. "Hermione, up until that kiss, you were just my best friend. Of course, I've noticed your beauty over the years, known that you're long past your buck-toothed, bushy-haired friend 'plain' stage. Ron saw it and did something about it…eventually." The two laughed at their friend's antics over the last few years. "However, I, first of all, saw you for the one I need in times of trouble, the one I can't possibly live without. I never realized, though, that that would translate to anything this deep." Harry took a deep breath.

"When you kissed me, it clicked. I don't _want_ to live without you. I don't want to go find anyone else. Of course, you and I will have to try the whole relationship thing for a while, but I think we'll be amazing together. We've already lived together and fought in a war together. We traveled together to Australia to bring back your parents, and we've traveled Europe together. I don't see how we can't work out, if you'll let me try."

Hermione sat gaping at him a moment, then, "Harry, you buffoon, I had this whole speech planned out, listing out reasons to not hate me for what I did. I'd love to try this with you. After all, who else knows you better?"

Harry grinned and pulled her near him, loving the feel of her feet tangling in his under the water. Kissing his best friend passionately, he pulled back and kissed her nose. "None but you, and I plan on keeping it that way for a long time." They leaned back against a rock and enjoyed the view of the Burrow in the distance. Then,

"So, Harry, I have a question."

"What is it, love?"

"Where are my books?"

"Oh, they're on your bed. They were just disillusioned. You needed a break."

Hermione wanted to hit Harry, but instead she laid her head on his shoulder. "I guess I did. Thank you."

"Any day."


End file.
